Richard Pusey: Australian admits filming taunts of dying policewoman
- An Australian man pleaded guilty this week to filming police officers as they lay dying.
- The officers were arresting Richard Pusey when the driver of a passing truck struck them.
- In the three-minute video, Pusey blamed the officers for ruining his Porsche.
An Australian man who taunted and filmed police officers at the scene of a car crash pleaded guilty this week to the rare offense of outraging public decency, the BBC reported.
Last year, Richard Pusey, a mortgage broker from Melbourne, was driving his Porsche on a highway when four officers pulled him over for speeding.
As the officers were arresting Pusey, a passing truck driver veered into the lane and plowed into their cars on the side of the road.
The officers — Senior Constables Lynette Taylor and Kevin King and Constables Glen Humphris and Josh Prestney — all died.
Pusey, 42, had been standing away from the officers. Before fleeing, he pulled out his phone and filmed the officers, some of whom were pinned under the truck, for more than three minutes.
In the video, he can be heard blaming the officers for ruining his car.
"Amazing. Absolutely amazing," he said, according to the Australian Associated Press. "All I wanted to do was go home and eat my sushi, and now you have fucked my fing car."
Experts said Taylor was most likely still alive while Pusey was filming, the BBC reported. The police found that Pusey had shared the video with some of his friends.
Victoria's police minister said Pusey's comments were "completely sickening," according to the BBC.
Pusey pleaded guilty to outraging public decency as well as drug and speeding offenses. The charge of outraging public decency, which has rarely been prosecuted in Australia, has no maximum penalty, the BBC reported.
In a hearing last fall, Pusey's lawyer, Dermot Dann, said Pusey "was ashamed of what was on the phone" because of "the horrible things he says,"
The lorry driver, Mohinder Singh Bajwa, has pleaded guilty to four charges of culpable driving causing death and will face another court hearing this week.
Pusey, a mortgage broker, was arrested at his home after the crash. He was initially charged with speeding, drug possession and reckless conduct offences.
However, police discovered Pusey's video and that he had shared it among friends.
His comments in the footage sparked public outrage, with Victoria's police minister condemning them as "completely sickening".
Local media reported that the offence of outraging public decency was rarely prosecuted in Australia.
Prosecutors in the case have referred to the 2007 case of Anthony Anderson in England, who was jailed for three years for urinating on a woman as she lay dying.
There is no maximum penalty for the charge in Australian law.
Pusey is due to face court again on 31 March.
Porsche driver filmed and taunted 4 police officers as they lay dying on the highway at a crash scene
Richard Pusey of Melbourne pleaded guilty this week to outraging public decency. The officers had stopped him for speeding in his Porsche.
Richard Pusey: Australian admits filming taunts of dying policewoman
Richard Pusey pleads guilty to outraging public decency by filming a policewoman as she lay dying.
www.bbc.com
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